Drinks with... Remy Giannico
Just like you, we miss drinks with friends. Instead of letting ‘shelter in place’ stop us, we’re asking some of our favorite people in food, wine, art, and culture how they’re surviving these cRaZy TiMeS and, of course, find out what they’re drinking right now.
If you’d like to join us for a drink, we provide links to some of our go-to online wine shops.
Drinks with Remy…
Alfonso Remington Giannico
Born in Santa Barbara, Raised in Argentina, fell into the world of wine through Fred Brander, acquired a level of appreciation through working harvest, serving & somm-ing, and slinging juice in New York City with Grand Cru Selections! Great wine requires a mad man to grow the vine, a wise man to watch over it, a lucid poet to make it and a lover to drink it. Dali once said. So… go be a lover! We need it, do it for the restaurant industry, Do it for America!!!
3 words to describe you in your current state:
Isolated, drinking scotch from my empty apartment and fighting the invisible enemy!
Current song on repeat.
Anemone – The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Any tips or hacks you’ve found useful during Shelter in Place?
Never enough showers and (baths if I wasn’t living in an NYC apartment) Braise, Make Sauce, learn something new…
Stories currently reading, watching, listening to?
The Last Lion (A three volume biography on Sir Winston Churchill)
Tiger King, who the f*%k are these people…
Most recently riding the C line in NYC plagued with COVID19, observing a man who went to the store and purchased 5 extra large packs of condoms, there’s a run on condoms in the City! Baby Boomers 2.0 #condomhoarder #quarentine.
Post COVID plan or something you’re missing most.
Wine-ing, Winning, and Dining in Restaurants, Heading on a plane, go straight to Europe.
Tell us about your 3 wine picks.
I chose 5 the list is too good to distill what I enjoy in 3 …
2017 Finca Torremilanos Crianza Tinto Ribera del Duero, Spain – While the list is loaded with allocated cherries from Kimberley’s R&D trips to New York, which wine-wise without doubt the most sophisticated market in the world. There’s something to say about wine that you can drink every day of the week, and know that it’s the one thing in your day that you don’t have to worry about people hoarding. The Peñalba López family are original founders of the Ribera del Duero DO which occurred recently in the 80s, they are some of the first to be demeter biodyanamic certified in Spain and they challenge the country with raising standards for great farming at an affordable pricepoint. That’s a revolution right there! The family is extraordinary too, perfect wine for the meats.
2015 Château de Brèze Clos David Saumur Blanc, Loire, France – overall the good sites of Saumur punch way above their weight, call it terroir for fucking days, vines planted on massive white chalk hillsides, if they were on the RN74, Burgundy’s Rodeo Drive, the vineyards would cost a fortune. Arnaud Lambert took to the idea of organic farming almost a decade ago, single vineyards and terroir driven wines like you find in the Côte d’Or but in his locality of the Loire, Clos David is one of his favorite parcels, and if you are looking to economize but drink like a collector this is your money ticket. All that living room Yoga calls for a Beurre Blanc and Brèze!
2016 Guido Marsella Fiano d’Avellino, Campania, Italy, Guido makes one wine, a lot of savy business people would classify their better fruit into novel single vineyards, price discrimination people!!! but he’s just giving you all he makes and pressing it into one bottling that is just damn good. This is the best Fiano you’ll find, he releases it way later too, like you’d find with Grand Cru Chablis, this wine is the truth, its the facts, fuck, somebody send one of these to our boy Andy Cuomo!!! If you haven’t done salt crusted Branzino now’s your shining chance.
2017 Sandhi Chardonnay Santa Barbara County, CA Raj Parr and Sashi Moorman are two of my greatest mentors, they along with Jim Clendenen are individuals that put Santa Barbara County on the international stage, in the SBC Chardonnay you find the warmth of something almost Mâconnais, but cut and acidity of great Chablis. Made like top burgundy fermented in barrel, and a little stainless towards the end that tightens the wine like a drum, à la Jean Marc Roulot! Uni motherfuckers!
NV Champagne Savart L’Overture Frédric’s wines are the most delicious Champagnes in the Montagne de Reims and this Blanc de Noirs ridic, I remember a couple years ago trying it blind and thinking there was some chardonnay in it just for the sheer acidity and tauntiness the wine had, its grower champagne too, meaning Savart, controls his own vineyards, and its allocated A.F. why haven’t you bought these on that promotion Granada would do half off bottles of a 100 or more, come’on people we have a pandemic to fight here, and the Churchillian in me says in times of war you fucking need some Champagne to get through this shit! Pair with Life.
Online Wine Shops
Verve NYC- www.vervewine
Chambers St. Wines, NYC- www.chambersstwines.com
Tribeca Wine Merchants- www.tribecawine.com
K&L Wine Merchants- www.klwines.com
DomaineLA- www.domainela.com
Granada Grocery, SLO- www.granadagroceryslo.com